Chronically ill, injured, or disabled outpatients are often prescribed many medications and supplements that are critical to their care, but compliance is typically left to the patients or caregivers. For many patients, a level of independence is important to their psychological well-being; however, the patients' physical or mental status may make adherence to a regimen difficult. For example, some patients suffer from reduced dexterity, vision loss, tremors, memory deficits and the like, which makes it difficult for the patient to organize, identify and keep track of numerous medicine bottles. The task is further complicated when the patient moves from room to room, such as from the bedroom at night to a living area during the day.
Transporting and managing several bottles of medicine individually increases the risk that medication will be left behind or dropped, which may result in inadvertent noncompliance or further injury to the patient. Typical solutions, such as transporting multiple medicine bottles in a box or bag, fall short because the bottles are disorganized, such that the labels are obscured and the contents cannot be easily visualized. Pill organizers with dose compartments also fail to suffice, because they each compartment is typically limited in size, lacks protective features (e.g., UV protection, hermetic seals, child proofing and the like) to ensure the potency and access is controlled, and must be loaded by someone having sufficient dexterity and mental clarity needed to avoid potentially devastating dosing and compliance errors.
What is needed is a system and apparatus that facilitates easy and orderly storage and access to multiple small containers such as medicine bottles.